020 7898 0500In terms of sterling (GBP, pound) volatility it was pretty quiet yesterday, as economic data nor news flowing out of the Supreme Court gave any further indication of what happens next with the current economic situation.
First thing yesterday the British Retail Consortium Retail Sales Monitor (BRC-RSM) announced that UK retail sales grew by 1.3% in November – compared to the same point last year. This was in large due to the extended Black Friday sales that in some cases appeared to last for longer than a week this time round. In fact sales in Black Friday week were 40% higher than in any of the other three weeks of November. It will be interesting to see what impact this has on December’s numbers.
Later in the day, the minutes from the Bank of England’s (BoE) Financial Policy Committee (FPC) were released. The FPC noted that the commercial real estate sector remains at risk of further losses, particularly if foreign investors withdraw from Britain following the post-Brexit uncertainty. Meanwhile, the second day of the four day Supreme Court hearing continued with no further clues as to which way the judgement will go. The UK Government is appealing to the Supreme Court about the Brexit process following the High Court ruling earlier this quarter that Parliament must give the go ahead – a final decision is not expected until January.
Looking to the day ahead we have the UK Manufacturing Production numbers, which is worryingly expected to show the pace of growth slowing from 0.6% to 0.2%.
